Route profile
ATL→SLC
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Atlanta to Salt Lake City, 1,590 miles.
Right now
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Route reliability
July 2023 – July 2026
Better than 87% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 9,222 flights. How this is calculated
ATL → SLC arrives on time 83.5% of the time; the return trip, SLC → ATL, arrives on time 85.5% of the time, a 2.0-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
ATL → SLC spends 24.2 minutes on the ground on a 1,590-mile trip: 16.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at ATL and 7.4 minutes from touchdown to gate at SLC.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route has stayed remarkably steady year over year, a smaller swing than 95% of 5,368 comparable routes.
82.9% on time over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), against 82.6% in the 12 months before (2024-08 to 2025-07), virtually unchanged.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Ranked against every other route with the same kind of figure and at least 5,368 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where ATL to SLC differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
ATL to SLC is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 2 PM: 85.8% arrive on time, 12.8 points ahead of the 73.0% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 11.2 points.
ATL to SLC holds up on Wednesdays better than routes of similar length do: 86.8% on time to their 80.2%, a 6.6 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 6 points.
November is kinder to ATL to SLC than to routes of similar length: 91.9% on time against 82.9%, 9 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 8.5 points.
ATL to SLC against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 2 PM departures | 85.8% | routes of similar length | 73.0% | +12.8 pts | 515 here, 86,219 there |
| Weekday: Wednesday | 86.8% | routes of similar length | 80.2% | +6.6 pts | 1,313 here, 221,973 there |
| Month: November | 91.9% | routes of similar length | 82.9% | +9.0 pts | 707 here, 124,761 there |
Each comparison pools the flights of other routes, with this route’s own left out. Similar length means within 15% of this route’s 1,590 miles, with at least 5 such routes. A bucket is set against the most comparable group that has enough flights: similar length, then the same origin (at least 3 routes), then all other routes. Hours, weekdays and months appear only where both sides have 120 completed flights, and airlines where both have 600. The gap must be at least 2 points and 2 standard errors, and only the largest gap each way is kept per measure. These are differences in the flights counted, not causes.
Why ATL → SLC flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
ATL → SLC cancelled 50 of 9,222 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 184. The reason filed most often was the airline, 52.0% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 355 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 50 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
26 cancellations, 52.0% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
24 cancellations, 48.0% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
0 cancellations, 0.0% of the total.
A terminal evacuation, a security breach, screening equipment failure, or screening queues over 29 minutes.
0 cancellations, 0.0% of the total.
Reason codes are the operating airline’s own filing with US DOT, not an independent finding of fault. With only one or two carriers on the route, the split mostly reflects how they file. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
50 coded cancellations were recorded on ATL → SLC; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
31 min late
against a median of 8 min early
Percentiles over 9,222 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SLC after arriving from ATL.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 33% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 16% | High risk |
| 60 min | 10% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.9% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.9% | Low risk |
This is one leg of a connection. Gate changes and the next flight's own schedule matter too. And a connection can fail before delay is even the question — this route cancels 0.54% of the time and diverts 0.14% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 9,159 arrivals on this route that landed later than the connection time less 30 minutes to reach the next gate.
The worst tenth of arrivals on this route land at least 31 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 9,222 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
ATL → SLC flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 90.5% of the time, against 73.8% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 16.7 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 90.3% on time from 1,046 flights
- 9 AM: 86.2% on time from 126 flights
- 10 AM: 90.5% on time from 1,021 flights
- 11 AM: 87.9% on time from 837 flights
- 12 PM: 90.4% on time from 311 flights
- 1 PM: 85.8% on time from 692 flights
- 2 PM: 85.8% on time from 519 flights
- 3 PM: 81.3% on time from 898 flights
- 4 PM: 82.8% on time from 182 flights
- 5 PM: 81.6% on time from 1,087 flights
- 6 PM: too few flights to score
- 7 PM: 77.2% on time from 1,045 flights
- 8 PM: too few flights to score
- 9 PM: 76.5% on time from 629 flights
- 10 PM: 72.1% on time from 546 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why ATL → SLC runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for ATL → SLC. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Airlines on this route
Carriers with at least 200 flights, by the airline that operated each one.
| Carrier | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Severe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 9,161 | 83.6% | 0.53% | -8 min | 5.0% |
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| DL526 Delta Air Lines | 3:15 PM | 1,126 | 81.4% |
| DL653 Delta Air Lines | 5:50 PM | 1,124 | 80.9% |
| DL830 Delta Air Lines | 8:10 AM | 1,115 | 90.6% |
| DL660 Delta Air Lines | 7:55 PM | 1,104 | 76.7% |
| DL423 Delta Air Lines | 1:59 PM | 1,101 | 86.2% |
| DL387 Delta Air Lines | 10:10 AM | 1,060 | 90.5% |
| DL663 Delta Air Lines | 12:15 PM | 1,021 | 88.8% |
| DL453 Delta Air Lines | 9:15 PM | 950 | 74.0% |
DL830 (8:10 AM) arrived on time 90.6% of the time, 16.6 points more often than DL453 (9:15 PM) at 74.0%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 6.5 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 81.1%
- Feb: 85.1%
- Mar: 84.6%
- Apr: 83.8%
- May: 79.0%
- Jun: 78.9%
- Jul: 75.7%
- Aug: 80.7%
- Sep: 88.2%
- Oct: 89.9%
- Nov: 91.9%
- Dec: 86.6%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 16.2 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 79.2% from 289 flights
- August 2023: 78.5% from 291 flights
- September 2023: 88.8% from 258 flights
- October 2023: 96.4% from 249 flights
- November 2023: 98.7% from 230 flights
- December 2023: 95.1% from 244 flights
- January 2024: 80.5% from 257 flights
- February 2024: 87.1% from 240 flights
- March 2024: 88.2% from 262 flights
- April 2024: 85.6% from 257 flights
- May 2024: 73.8% from 253 flights
- June 2024: 85.7% from 240 flights
- July 2024: 67.9% from 250 flights
- August 2024: 84.2% from 248 flights
- September 2024: 85.8% from 243 flights
- October 2024: 90.7% from 248 flights
- November 2024: 91.6% from 238 flights
- December 2024: 85.9% from 248 flights
- January 2025: 83.1% from 251 flights
- February 2025: 83.8% from 229 flights
- March 2025: 82.4% from 250 flights
- April 2025: 78.0% from 241 flights
- May 2025: 77.1% from 249 flights
- June 2025: 71.0% from 243 flights
- July 2025: 78.0% from 250 flights
- August 2025: 79.8% from 250 flights
- September 2025: 90.1% from 242 flights
- October 2025: 82.7% from 250 flights
- November 2025: 85.8% from 239 flights
- December 2025: 79.2% from 250 flights
- January 2026: 79.6% from 256 flights
- February 2026: 84.3% from 231 flights
- March 2026: 82.9% from 256 flights
- April 2026: 87.6% from 251 flights
- May 2026: 86.2% from 248 flights
- June 2026: 80.1% from 242 flights
- July 2026: 76.8% from 249 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 82.9% against 82.6% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 9,222 ATL → SLC flight records from the US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, covering July 2023 – July 2026. Late means 15 or more minutes past scheduled arrival; cancelled and diverted flights are left out of on-time rates.
Full methodology · Data sources · Report a problem
Related research: How Long a Layover Needs to Be · Two Airlines on One Route · Best Time of Day to Fly From Major US Airports
Analysis last recomputed